


Unclouded Eyes

by Anonymous



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tokka - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Multi, Tokka - Freeform, Tokka Week, Tokka smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:28:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26126497
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The story is set about four years after the end of the war and will feature mature themes and content. Toph Beifong lives in Yu Dao and teaches metalbending at her academy. Sokka has split his time between working with Hakoda in the South Pole and accompanying Aang and Katara as they travel the world to perform his Avatar duties. At the start of the story it has been about six months since the Gaang has reunited. A lot has changed, but one thing remains the same, Toph's unshakeable crush on her best friend.I'm no good at summaries but this will be worth the read for Tokka fans :)
Relationships: Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko, Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: ATLA Angst, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Tokka Collection





	Unclouded Eyes

The Beifong Metalbending Academy was anything but quiet. On any given day you could hear the intense shouting coming from the teenage instructor for whom the school was named after. It was a wonder any of her students made it out of the building in one piece. The greatest earthbender of all time, not to mention the inventor of metalbending, was not exactly gentle with her pupils and at times it looked like the wreckage from her lessons had to have buried at least a few of her students. Toph had little patience for those who didn’t live up to her expectations. And with so many earthbenders flocking to Yu Dao for the chance to study under her, well, let’s just say Toph didn’t have the time to deal with people who couldn’t produce results. If there was a bender who was truly incapable, there were ten more waiting to take his place. Of course anyone else would say that the work she had done here in the years since the war had ended was nothing short of miraculous, but Toph had higher standards than most. She had successfully trained several police forces in the art of metalbending to better protect the diversely populated cities of this new world they were living in. She was an executive partner for her father’s company Earthen Fire Industries, working with engineers on new machines, helping to usher in an age of technology and innovation.  
But beneath all of the new responsibilities and the accomplishments, she was a sixteen year old girl who missed her friends. Before the dunderheads who she loved so much had crashed into her life four years ago, she had been utterly alone. After ending a war together, they remained close, but they were all needed for different things and the separation made her ache for the days when Team Avatar spent every waking moment together. It had been months since she had last seen her friends, who were due to arrive any day in Yu Dao. Toph wouldn’t admit it, but she was anxious about their arrival, worried that maybe things would be different after the time apart. Rather than confront those feelings directly, she unleashed a fury of metal plates upon her students, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead as she advanced on them. She stomped her foot down hard, ripping up the metal floor and causing many of her students to lose their balance. Her more impressive students regained their center quickly, a few even going on the offensive, sending the metal plates hurling back towards her head. She dodged them easily and herded those who weren’t knocked to the ground into a small metal box with a simple flex of her fingers. Just as she was about to turn away for the day and leave her students to release themselves, she felt a boulder sling past her, moving just in the knick of time to avoid being hit.  
“What the -” Toph had felt all of her students, knew exactly where each of them was located and was caught off guard by this rock that seemed to come out of nowhere. She rose her arms up defensively, prepared to unleash pain like no other upon whoever dared to attack her. Suddenly, almost imperceptibly, the air shifted and Toph’s mouth curled up into a smirk. Got him. She slid the platform he was standing on out from under his feet and laughed when she heard him land on the ground. “Way to make an entrance, Twinkle Toes. I almost buried you alive.”  
The young Avatar had broken his fall with a gust of wind and used another to straighten out his robes, laughing with his old earthbending teacher and friend. “I just wanted to make sure you’ve still got it.” Aang joked, pulling Toph into his arms for a hug. She surprised him by allowing the contact for three whole seconds before punching him squarely in his chest. “I couldn’t lose it if I tried. Especially not to a light-footed princess like you.” The smirk playing on Toph’s lips grew into a full-blown smile when she recognized more footsteps. She turned around quickly, orienting towards the entrance of the academy. “Speaking of royalty...I knew you couldn’t be far behind, Sugar Queen.”  
Katara giggled at the old nickname and pulled Toph in for a hug that was too tight but somehow just right. The waterbender was surprised to find she could no longer rest her head on top of Toph’s. She released her grip on the earthbender slightly, pushing Toph back with her hands still on her shoulders as she examined her. The girl she had known was taller now and filled out her uniform in ways she never had before. “Spirits, Toph! I haven't seen you for half a year and you use the time to turn into a woman?”  
Toph was embarrassed but tried not to show it, pushing Katara’s hands off of her and rolling her eyes. “I used the time to train these idiots,” she changed the subject, gesturing towards her metalbending students who were still trying to free themselves from the metallic prison she had formed around them. Finally the owner of the other pair of footsteps spoke. “What, no special greeting for me? As your best friend, I must say I’m hurt.”  
She could practically feel his smirk and knew she would be lying to herself if she said that there weren’t some lingering remnants of the crush she’d had before. It was the thing she liked the least about herself, that she could be vulnerable to something as stupid as a romantic inclination towards her oldest friend. It was obviously easier to avoid when he was on the other side of the world, working with his father in the South Pole. She could feel Sokka’s eyes on her now and knew he expected some sort of greeting from her. “Hey Meathead. Best friend might be overstating it, don’t you think?” Toph hoped that it sounded as cool and aloof as she had meant for it to. More than anything she hoped her cheeks weren’t warm.  
“A guy gets a little busy with his tribe and suddenly four years of companionship down the drain?” Sokka shook his head wryly, a smile on his face. “Don’t think so. You’re not getting off that easy.” The watertribe man pulled her into his chest, more wide and muscular than she remembered, but she easily navigated away from the hug. Sokka’s smile faltered slightly at her dismissive reaction to him. He had been so excited to see her. More than once he had bickered with Katara and Aang about a stop they wanted to make on the already long journey from the South Pole to Yu Dao, insisting they follow a strict schedule so he could reunite with his friend sooner rather than later. Six months was the longest stretch of time they had been apart since they’d met and to say that he missed his best friend would be an understatement. Toph turned away from her friends and with a small wave of her hand lowered the walls that were trapping her students.  
“Class is dismissed,” she announced. The gang turned their attention to her pupils as many of them moved past the group to exit the academy, bowing their heads in deference to their Avatar. Aang returned their respect with a small bow of his own. He looked a bit concerned when he saw just how many of the metalbenders were limping out of class but knew better than to verbalize his opinion on the subject. Toph taught the way she saw fit and nothing he said would do anything to change her teaching style. Not that he would want to - she was a damn good Sifu. After all, she was the one who had taught him all those years ago.  
Katara, however, couldn't resist. “Some of those guys look like they could use a healer after a session with you.” Sokka silently agreed with his sister, taking a visual inventory of all the injuries that Toph had seemed to inflict upon these men. He wasn’t worried about them though; they were lucky to be learning from someone as amazing as Toph. The watertribe man admired her strength, he always had.  
“Yeah, well someone has to turn these lily livers into real metalbenders,” Toph sighed and she sounded exhausted by the task at hand. Sokka decides that his friend needs a little good old fashioned mischief and mayhem to balance the scales of all the difficult and important work she’s been doing here. From the day Toph first joined Team Avatar, Sokka saw a kindred spirit in the girl who was always ready for a fight. There was a light within her that drew people in like moths to a flame. He felt beyond fortunate to be her best friend and hoped that despite the time away from one another, they could fall back into step, laughing and scheming together like always. An unbreakable unit.  
Sokka’s thoughts were interrupted when Aang opened his mouth to speak. “You must be doing a pretty good job at it if they’re throwing a banquet in your honor.”  
Toph had pushed the banquet to the backburner of her mind, having so many other things to worry about. She was proud of the strides she had made here with this new form of bending, but the idea of having to dress up and be on display for the powerful figures of the United Republic brought her little excitement. However the fact that she would get to share the celebration with her closest friends remedied any ill feelings she had. “Oh yeah, that.” she stated simply, seeming unimpressed. Aang and Katara exchanged a worried glance before the waterbender stepped forward, grabbing Toph’s hand.  
“What’s wrong?” the waterbender asked, the worry clear in her voice. Toph laughed a little, hoping to lighten the mood. She didn’t want to talk about how big formal events reminded her of all the pain and pressure from her childhood or complain about the strict dress code King Kuei was enforcing for the event - she was even required to wear shoes to this event for Spirits sake. But in comparison to fighting in a literal war, this was nothing. She sensed each of her friends around her and was grateful.  
“Oh you know, just not looking forward to feeling Aang embarrass himself on the dancefloor all night.” She nudged the airbender in the ribcage with her elbow and he rewarded her with a breathy laugh.  
“Katara likes it.”  
This earned a real laugh from Toph. “At least someone does.”


End file.
